CAIRO, April 19. /TASS/. Doctors working in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum are struggling to supply medicines to hospitals and are banned from removing bodies from the streets as gun battles continue in Sudan, according to a statement from Doctors Without Borders that was released on Wednesday.

The statement is quoting Ghazali Babiker, a representative of the group, as saying that "most medical workers have been trapped due to ongoing fierce battles and can’t get access to warehouses to supply vital medications to hospitals". He said in Khartoum, "even ambulance vehicles are turned back and medical staff aren’t allowed to move about to remove the bodies of the deceased from the streets or send the wounded to hospitals." Medical institutions in the capital "are overwhelmed, and many of them are closed because they ran out of food and water, had their power cut and don’t have fuel for generators."

According to Babiker, "medical staff has worked nonstop since violence broke out and is completely exhausted." He said some doctors can’t reach hospitals due to heavy battles and a lack of security.

Situation in the regions

Babiker said representatives of humanitarian organization encounter serious hurdles across the country. For example, a hospital in North Darfur, he said, has accepted 220 people over the past five days, who were wounded in the armed clashes, and 34 of them dies from the wounds. The hospital has 38 beds, and some of its patients are put on the floor, according to Babiker. He said people will continue to die if hospitals are not resupplied with medications. The Doctors Without Borders representative called on the sides of the conflict to guarantee security to doctors and patients.

The situation in Sudan has escalated over disagreements between army commander, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who also heads the Sovereign Council, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is his deputy in the council. On April 15, clashes erupted between the sides near a military base in the city of Merowa and in Khartoum. The latest data from the World Health Organization indicate that at least 300 people were killed in the clashes while more than 2,600 sustained wounds.